A leg amputee feels let down by Bus Vannin following a trial to see if it would allow mobility scooters on board.

Former Ramsey commissioner, Eric Corkish, was given a two-month trial using his small mobility scooter after criticising the service’s ban on the vehicles.

However, following the trial with ’no problems’ he was left feeling ’embarrassed’ when refused entry onto a bus with his scooter last week. He said the announcement came as a surprise to him, as he’d not received an email about the change until after the event that day.

’It’s disgusting that a disabled person cannot get on the bus,’ he said. ’The Equality Act specifically says a disabled person cannot be treated any differently.’

In July last year, the Manx Independent reported Mr Corkish’s frustrations after Bus Vannin said it was unable to carry mobility scooters because of their ’inconsistent manoeuvrability and the issue of steep boarding and alighting gradients’ on a number of routes. Scooters can also be unstable on buses, it said, and the safety of other passengers must be considered.

Mr Corkish said he was contacted by Ian Bates, the director of transport at the time, who arranged to go on a bus with him to see if he could get into the wheelchair bay easily.

’There was no problem and he agreed to let me do a two-month trial which started in September. It went for another two months with no problems whatsoever,’ he said.

The next step, he said, was to use the bus indefinitely but instead he received an email from the director of transport Ian Longworth saying the ban would remain in place.

An Isle of Man Transport spokesman said: ’There was a trial over two months to understand the implications of carrying mobility scooters on buses. However, on our buses they have to travel unrestrained and this is unsafe for both mobility scooter users and other passengers.’

It added that buses here are built to European Vehicle Whole Type Approval standards, which exclude carrying mobility scooters. ’We are working with the manufacturers on future vehicle design,’ they added.